Category Archives: 1990s songs

The best 500 songs from the 1990s. Lyrics, meanings and interpretations from your favorite musicians. Radiohead, REM, Weezer, No Doubt, Alanis, Jewel, and Guns and Roses. See which of your favorite 90s bands and artists rank highest on the greatest songs of all-time lists.

1990s songs, life is hard

#89 Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve

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it’s a bittersweet symphony this life/
Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to the money then you die.

“Bittersweet Symphony” is about a man who wants to be a better version of himself–and knows he can be—but the grind of everyday life prevents him from being his best self. For example, imagine the band that The Verve could have been if they had the financial freedom to create instead of haggling with The Stones.

The song also asks serious questions about fate. We are stuck “in our mold” and we “know” that we could get out of it with just a little luck or divine intervention, but can we really? And of course, there are our base needs that seem to be always driving us. Ultimately, I think Ashcroft would believe that we can change, but I think he makes an equally compelling case against it.

There are very few songs that have the sense of rhythm that “Bittersweet Symphony” does. Originally, I suspected it might be a difference in time signature, but it isn’t that—it’s standard. Part of it is the violins. A lot of it is the hypnotic, trance-like melody with very consistent drum beat.

Bitterweet Symphony Meaning
The Verve

The story behind The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony” is tragic. The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” is one of the best songs of the 90s.  When it came out, everybody, regardless of their taste in music recognized it as something special and unique. Unique! Then The Rolling Stones sued them because they said it lifted a bar from a cover version of their song The Last Time.

So, for twenty years The Rolling Stones got paid because they have better lawyers and bigger pockets. They sued and received co-writing credit. Around 2019 they relinquished all future royalties to the song but didn’t disavow their song-writing credit and past royalties (of course). Fuck The Stones.

Bittersweet Symphony Lyrics

Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony this life
Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to the money then you die.
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah.
No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change,
but I’m here in my mold, I am here in my mold.
But I’m a million different people from one day to the next
I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Well I never pray,
But tonight I’m on my knees, yeah.
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah.
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now.
But the airwaves are clean and there’s nobody singing to me now.

No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change,
But I’m here in my mold, I am here in my mold.
And I’m a million different people from one day to the next
I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony this life.
Trying to make ends meet, trying to find some money then you die.
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah.
No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change,
but I’m here in my mold, I am here in my mold.
But I’m a million different people from one day to the next
I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

It justs sex and violence melody and silence
It justs sex and violence melody and silence (I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down)
It’s just sex and violence melody and silence
It’s just sex and violence melody and silence
It’s just sex and violence melody and silence (I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down)
(It’s just sex and violence melody and silence)Been down

written by Richard Ashcroft

1990s songs, young love

#88 Brick- Ben Folds Five

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I’m feeling more alone/
Than I ever have before.

“Brick” by The Ben Folds Five is a song about a young couple that drives downtown to get an abortion the day after Christmas. We know they are young because they fund the abortion by selling some of their Christmas gifts. Also, they live at home.

The abortion story is the background to the unraveling effect it has on the relationship. It puts her into a depressive state that she is unable to recover from. She feels like a brick that is sinking and he’ll either have to hold on and sink with her or perhaps, let go…in order to save himself. “Brick” is a very strong metaphor.

Brick Meaning
Ben Folds Five

“Brick” is a great song because it feels so emotional and personal, and a story that many teenagers and twenty-year olds can relate to. Folds describes the scene in a matter of fact way so that we can almost picture it in our mind’s eye. Notice he doesn’t place blame on either of them. They are in it together throughout, until much time goes by and he begins to wonder if being together is the best thing for them.

“Brick’s” unique piano track adds a lot of the personality to this song. It is relatively simple, but catchy. When Folds goes into the high register during the chorus, he sounds good and it sounds like he is providing a lot of the emotion that the otherwise black-and-white storytelling is lacking. It is an interesting technique.

Brick Lyrics

6 a.m.
Day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping
I am numb

Up the stairs to her apartment
She is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte
They’re not home to find us out

And we drive
Now that I have found someone
I’m feeling more alone
Than I ever have before

She’s a brick and I’m drownin’ slowly
Off the coast and I’m headed to nowhere
She’s a brick and I’m drownin’ slowly

They call her name at seven-thirty
I pace around the parking lot
And I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got

Can’t you see
It’s not me you’re dying for
Now she’s feeling more alone
Then she ever has before

She’s a brick and I’m drownin’ slowly
Off the coast and I’m headed to nowhere
She’s a brick and I’m drownin’ slowly

As weeks went by
It showed that she was not fine
They told me, “Son it’s time to tell the truth, ” and
She broke down and I broke down
Cause I was tired of lying

Driving back to her apartment
For the moment we’re alone
Yeah she’s alone
And I’m alone
Now I know it

She’s a brick and I’m drownin’ slowly
Off the coast and I’m headed to nowhere
She’s a brick and I’m drownin’ slowly

written by Ben Folds

1990s songs, protest songs

#86 Zombie- The Cranberries

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It’s the same old theme/
Since nineteen-sixteen.


“Zombie” was The Cranberries greatest work, and it is one of the greatest protest songs of all-time. The Cranberries were a proudly Irish Band. The song was written after an IRA bombing killed two young children.

Her message is clear: the same shit has been going on for the last hundred years. Everyone is walking around brainless with their big guns and bombs blowing each other up without thinking of the consequences. The military industrial complex has churned out a bunch of zombies that are happy to kill.

Zombie cranberries meaning
Dolores with a pink coif

Dolores O’riordan, lead singer of The Cranberries’ death was a deep shock to anyone who grew up with The Cranberries. She was such a kick-ass, punk rocker chick that seemed to be bigger than life (in a small package). She played the guitar and sang lead on all their songs, and every public appearance her hair would be a new neon color.

The sound of The Cranberries on “Zombie” differed from most of The Cranberries other music. This song was angry. Not only could you hear it in the lyrics, you could hear it in the loud distorted guitars and the way she would howl out “Zombie”. It is a very raw, emotional song. The band plays an excellent extended outro to end the song.

Zombie Lyrics

Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence,
Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it’s not me, it’s not my family.
In your head, in your head, they are fightin’.
With their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns,
In your head, in your head, they are cryin’.

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.
What’s in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie, oh.

Another mother’s breakin’
Heart is takin’ over.
When the violence causes silence,
We must be mistaken.

Written by Dolores O’riordan